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At the recent 2011 New York Auto Show, Maserati launched the hard-edged GranTurismo MC Stradale for America. At first glance, it looked just like the car the Italian automaker launched in the rest of the world a couple months back.

But upon further inspection, the U.S.-spec MC doesn’t have the idiotic interior arrangements of the global MC Stradale. It doesn’t have a rollcage that precludes use of the back seats – that is, if there were any back seats, because they, too, have been removed. It’s also missing the daft four-point harnesses that take ages to fasten and prevent you from reaching out to pay tolls.

Let’s face it, these quasi-race items are pointless. MC might stand for Maserati Corse [Racing], but if you wanted a track-day car, you wouldn’t start out with a 4000-pound machine on a 116-inch wheelbase. The GranTurismo handles mighty fine for a four-seater. But on track days, you don’t want any ‘for a…’ provisos. You want a fine-handling car, period. For circuit use you’d go for a natural-born two seater, not a bigger car that’s lost its back chairs to a roll cage.

Further inspection reveals the American MC also lacks a lot of the other features that make the global MC Stradale so darned wonderful. Sure, it has all the aerodynamic changes, but they really only enhance stability at U.S. road-irrelevant speeds. It has the newly revised 444-hp engine. But that’s only a scant 10 hp up on the existing GranTurismo S.

The U.S. model sadly has a six-speed front-mounted slush autobox, rather than the global MC Stradale’s quick-shifting six-speed AMT rear transaxle, to the detriment of performance, weight, and weight distribution. Our MC also lacks their MC Stradale’s carbon ceramic brakes. And it’s a couple hundred pounds heavier.

OK, how and why is the global MC so great? What are we missing here?

The car’s weight has been cut by some 200 pounds compared with a standard manual GranTurismo by saving on brake and wheel materials and soundproofing, and swapping in carbon bucket seats. The suspension has had some advantageous tweaking. The dampers are passive (an ill-calibrated adaptive system is fitted on some GranTurismos). The chassis is lowered compared with the standard GranTurismo S, but the springs are a mere 8-percent stiffer to preserve suppleness on the road. The sway bars, however, are considerably stiffer, and the tires wider at 255/35 20 front and 295/35 20 rear.

Most engine measures have been aimed at reducing internal friction, and there’s a freer-flowing exhaust. The full 444 hp arrives at 7000; you can (and you should) visit 7600. Some 376 lb-ft of torque is there at 4750 rpm. The main gain is a sharper, more immediate response to the throttle. New gearbox software allows the single-clutch AMT to shift in a sawtooth 0.06 seconds at wide-open throttle.

So much for the spec changes. They might not seem to be dramatic, but their effect is beautifully judged. The GranTurismo becomes a focused yet beautifully homogeneous sporting car. The sensory promise of the magical looks and epic noise is matched by a drive that delights in its feedback and reward.

Yes, there are faster cars out there for the price, but this is such a gorgeous engine you can forgive it. If it had more power, you’d spend less time with the thing at full noise. Its sound is a perfectly pitched combination of intake and exhaust resonances and other finely engineered mechanical hubbub.

At the big revs necessary to give the tires a proper workout, the precision of the response from the throttle is near-perfect — that’s a huge help in controlling the car at the limits of grip.

From your first tiny displacement of the steering wheel, it’s clear this car is on a different level from the rest of the GranTurismo range. The MC Stradale’s steering has a newfound precision and feedback, from turn-in all the way to and through the apex, especially in fast open curves. A very slight initial understeer helps you feel how much front-end grip you have, but the nose never feels heavy. Instead, the 52-percent rear weight bias keeps the two axles gripping evenly.

Hit the ‘race’ button – calling up the fastest gearchanges and opening the exhaust bypass valve to thunderous effect – and the ESP system is given looser parameters. As it slides, high-bandwidth communication from the steering and progressive rear-end breakaway keep the thing on your side.

But as your favorite driving road ends and etches itself onto your memory, another facet emerges. The MC Stradale is civil. The transmission isn’t only faster than standard in race mode, it’s smoother in auto mode. The improved steering helps highway stability. The ride is slightly firmer but more consistent and less disturbed, so overall it’s more relaxing than the standard global GranTurismo S AMT at all speeds. You still get air-conditioning and a decent stereo.

Unfortunately, Maserati’s ideal combo is on sale nowhere. Maserati thinks its U.S. customers don’t want something as sporting as the MC Stradale. But we want the MC Stradale’s mechanical changes, combined with the U.S. MC’s rear seat and normal seatbelts. That’d be right around the top of its class. A car for epic grand touring. The clue’s in the name, see?

Torque

2012 Maserati GranTurismo News and Reviews

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